Typewriting machine



H. BANS. TYPEWRITING MACHINE.

APPLICATION men wLvls. I919.

Patented May 9, 1922.

a swans-swan H. BATES.

TYPEWBITING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED mum. isla- Pa'tentedl May 1 3 SHEET5SHEF.T 2:

lm/enfor:

H. BATES. TYPEWRITING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JULYIB. I919- 1,4 1 5, 1 3 Patented May 9, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Mme/1 far-'- city, in the county a link connected to the the pawl in i carriage is v the pawl in the back-spacing keys,

UNITED STATES PA'ZTENT OFFICE.

HARRY BATES, OF NEW YORK,

COMPANY, OF NEW YORK,

A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE- I IYPEWB-ITING MACHINE.

specification 0! Letters Patent.

Patented May 9,1922;

Application filed m 19, 19.19. Serial 15:05:12,074.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY Barns a citizen of the United States, residin in N ew York of New ork and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inTypewriting Machines, of whichthe following is'a specification.

This invention relates to mechanism for back-spacing typewriter carriages, and is illustrated as applied to the back-spacingmechanism of an Underwood ty'pewriting machine, an example of which is foundm the patent to Helmond, No. 930,962,,granted August 10, 1909. In such machines, provision is made 'of a back-spacing key mountedonf an' arm or key-lever fixed at lower rear part of the machine. 'Upon depression of the back-spacing ey, a second arm, mounted on the shaft, will draw down usual back-spacing pawl to swing a carrier for the'pawl into position to cause engagement of the pawl with the usual escapement rack, and thento swing the back-space pawl about its pivot,

and thereby. return the rack and the typewriter carriage through one-letter-space.

stop on said carrier limits the movement of direction at letter-feed movement. and, by other means, the movement of ment, the back-spacing pawl is withdrawn from the rack and returned toits normal position on the carrier. 7

According to the present invention, the

pluralitycf letter-spaces by a single depression of the appropriate one of a plurality of The backspacing is 'done by the usual back-spacing pawl, but, since the back-spacing movement may be for the usual means for limiting the backspacing move- "ment of the pawl is om1t-ted...The .backspacing keys are v keyboard,

arranged at one side of the and are carried by key-levers pivoted at the rear of the machine on the usual pivot for the character-key-levers. Provision is made of suitable connections between the shaft for actuating the back-spacing pawl and the levers, whereby an actuation of the selected key will give an appropr ate movement of said pawl.

one end to a; shaft in the the opposite or back-spacing. direction is limited. Upon areturn moveback-spaced one letter-space"or a 5 Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings, V

.1 is a fragmentary front view, showing the present invention applied to the Underwood typewriting machine, the parts being shown in normal positions.

Figure2 is a fragmentary view, showing the position of the pawl after a back-spacing movement of one letter=s ace. Figure 3 is a view simi ar to Figure 2, but showing the rack and the pawl in the positions assumed at the end of a back-spacing movement through five letter-spaces.-

Figure 4 is a fragmentary side elevation, partly in section, showing the parts in normal positions. I r

'Figure 5'is a fragmentary side elevation, showing the parts in the positions assumed when the dog has been swung into engagement with the rack. 1

Figure '6 is a plan view of some of the back-spacing devices in normal ositions. 'Fi re 7 is a view similar to showing the parts in the Figure 5 position. Figure 8 is a diagrammatic side view with lines drawn from the axis of the key-lever pivot rod to indicate the amount of move-,

ment ofeach back-spacing key-fever to bring the back-spacing pawl into engagement with the rack and the position assumed by the back-spacing key-levers at the end of the back-spacing operations. Alsoilines drawn 'from' the axis of the shaft, through which back-spacing is-eflected, indicate, from top to -bottom, respectively, the normal position of the arm connected to the lower end of the awl-actuating link, the position upon bringmg the pawl into engagement with the rack. and the positions assumed at the end of one, two, three. four and five Iettenspace movements of the back-spacing pa 1. 1 Figure 9 is a fragmentary plan view of the lower shaft with some of the parts associated therewith. V

Figure 10 he *fra connection bettgeena ask-spacing lever and the corresponding slotted links, portions of the members being broken'awayto show the structure more clearly.

Figure 11 is a skeleton perspective view showing the novel structure.

The typewriter carriage 1 is urged in the direction of letter-feed by means of a strap entary view of the.

wheel is contro led by loose dogs (not shown).

direction is controlled by means of the usual escapement mechanism comprising a rack 4, pivotally mounted on the carriage by means of arms 5, and the pinion 6, with which said rack is normally in engagement. Said pinion 6 has the usual one-way driving connection with the escapement wheel 7 by means of pawls 8 and s rings 9, and the escapement the usual fast and In order to effect back-spacing of the carriage, a rocking member shown as a shaft 10 is rocked to swing the arm 11 against the resistance of spring12, and pull down a link 13, connected by a shouldered screw 14 to a laterally-projecting arm 15 of a back-spacing pawl 16 having a tooth 17 which is under certain conditions in engagement with rack ,4. The back-spacing pawl 16 is pivoted by 'means of a shouldered screw 18 to a carrier 19, which is pivotally mounted on the frame of the machine by means of a shouldered screw.20. In order to limit the movement of the carrier 19, provision is made of a hook 21 thereon engaging a stud 22 on a fixed part of the frame. The back-spacing pawl is normally held in engagement with a lug 23 on carrier 19, by means of a spring 24, at-

tached at its upper end to an offset portion 25 of the back-spacing pawl, and at its lower end to a pin26 carried by link 13, and of suflicient length to extend to the left of screw 18, as shownin'Figure 2. It will be seen that the tendency of spring 24 is to maintain the pawl in engagement with lug 23. and to hold link 13 in raised position.

Downward movement of link 13, due to the-rocking of shaft 10, will act to swing the carrier 19t0 its forward position, lim ited by engagement with the rack 4, or by means of book 21 and stud 22, and-a hook 27 at the upper end' of said carrier will be brought. into engagement with the to of rack 4, in order to prevent jumping o the rack during the back-sp ing operation. The forward movement 9 the carrier .19 will bring the back-spacing pawl 16 into engagement with rack 4, and further movement of the link 13- will cause-the back-V spacing pawl 16 to be swung to the right against the resistance of spring 24, and backrspacing movement of t e rack 4 and carriage 1 thus effected. .Ordinarily, the tension of spring 24 is sufficient to prevent rocking of the backspacing pawl 16 on its carrier 19 until the pawl is brought into engagement with the rack 4, but, to prevent any accidental movement of the awl about its pivot, before engagement 0 the pawl with the rack, provision is made of a pawllatch 28 pivotally supported on the carrier 19, so that a projection 29 thereon may pass to the right of the upper end of the pawl 16, as shown in Figure 2, and prevent movefacture are obtained.

pawl-latch 28 will engage the rear side of the rack, and during the remainder of the forward movement of the carrier, said pawllatchwill be rocked about its pivot against the action of a spring 31 to such an extent as to release the backspacing-pawl. With the parts in the position assumed at this time, further movement of the link 13 will effect a back-spacing movement of said pawl 16.

During the return movement of shaft 10 to normal position, under the ur 'ng of spring 12, carrier 19 will be rocke rear to withdraw pawl 16 from engagement with the rack 4, and said pawl will herestored to its normal position on the carrier by means of spring 24 in connection with spring 12.

The mechanism so far described is the same in general as that disclosed in said patent to Helmond.

In order to prevent back lash of the escapement wheel, during the back-spacing operation, provision may be made of any to the shown in said patent to Helmond.

In order to back-space the carriage different numbers of letter-spaces, provision is. made of a plurality of backspacing-keys 32, (five in the embodiment shown), and corresponding key-levers 33, pivoted at the rear of the machine on the usual pivot-rod 34 for the character-key-levers and normarlly held in raised position b means of restoring springs 33'. It wil .be seen that the backspacing-keys are arranged in the usualkeyboard, and that the back-spacing-key-levers 33 are of the same general form as the character-key-levers, whereby simplicity of structure and economy of menu- In order to obtain connections between key-levers '33 and shaft 10 suchthat depression of the keys will back-space the carriage to different extents in accordance with the key depressed, (provision'is made of thrust-links 35, pivoted to key-levers 33 at different distances from pivot-rod 34, by means of shouldered screws 36, the,-distances, from the pivot-rod 34, of the-various shouldered screws 36 on the firstthree key-levers, from the left, being varied to determine the amount of rotation of shaft 10. At the other ends of links 35, slots are provided, and the slotted ends thus formed embrace a screw 37 mounted in arms 38 and 39 fixed on said shaft 10. The screw or rod 37 forms a bail with the arms 38 and 39. It will be obvious that the provision of suitable slots in the lower ends of links 35 enables actuation of shaft 10 by any of said keys 32 through the corresponding links independently of the remaining keys which are maintained in their normal positions by said restoring springs 33. Suitable spacin blocks 40 serve to maintain the slotted en s in proper position on screw 37. On the remaining key-levers 33, links 35 are pivoted at equal distances from rod 34, greater than the distance of any of thefirst three links, and the slotted end of thefourth link embraces a screw 41, which bridges the gap between arm 39 and another arm 42, fixed on said shaft 10. It will be seen that screw 41 is placed nearer shaft than screw.

37 in order to obtaina greater movement of shaft 10, due to depression of the fourth key-lever, and that the last or fifth link is secured to arm 42at a lesser distance from shaft 10 than the fourth link, in orderto obtain a still greater movement of shaft 10.

i It will be evident that the five back-spacing keys 32 are so connected with the backspacing pawl 16, that actuation of any one of these keys will cause said carriage 1 to be back spaced from one to five letterspaces, respectively, in accordance with the number of the key from'the left as shown in Figure 1.

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention, and portions of the extent in accordance with the keys actuated.

2. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a carriage having J letter-space movements, of a series of key-levers having a common pivot. the number of said key-levers corresponding to the. different backspacing actions to be eflected,'a device adapted to backspace said carriage different.

amounts, and connecting devices, including pin-and-slot connections, whereby actuation of any of said key-levers will effect actuation of said backspace device in accordance with the key-lever depressed, the movement of said back-space device being idle with respect to the key-levers not actuated.

3. In a typewriting machine, the combination with atraveiing carriage urged in one direction and an escapement mechanism to control letter-space movements thereof. of a plurality of back-space keys, key-levers carrying said keys, and key-lever-driven mechanism whereby uniform movements of the keys will hack-space said carriage different numbers of steps in accordance with the values of the back-space keys de ressed.

4. In a typewriting machine, t e combination with a traveling carriage and an escapement mechanism therefor, including a rack connected to the carriage to travel therewith,

of back-spacing means comprising a backspace pawl and means to move said. pawl into engagement with said rack and to actuate said pawl and back-space said carriagefincluding a downwardly extending link, a shaft, an arm fixed on said shaft and connected with the lower end of said link, two

arms fixed on said shaft, at positions spaced from the first-mentioned arm, a rod extending through said last-named'arms forming a bail therewith, a series of back-spacing levers having a common ivot, and a series of links having slotted en s embracing said rod to enable independent actuation of said bail by said links, said links bein pivoted to the corresponding levers at di erentdistances from the common pivot, sothat said pawl will back-space said carriage different numbersof letterspace distances in accordance with the back-spacing levers depressed.

5. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a traveling carriage and an escapement mechanism including a rack connected with said carriage, to effect letter-space movements of said carriage, of back-spacing mechanism including a awl movable into and out of engagement with said rack, mean to swing said pawl to effect different backspacin ,moveinents of said rack, including a shaft, e -levers corresponding to the different num ers of steps the carriage is to be back-spaced, and connections between said key-levers and said shaft whereby the shaft will be actuated different extents in accordance with the key-levers depressed, and each key-lever may be depressed independentlv of the others.

6. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a carriage and an escapement rack connected therewith, of a back-space pawl, a

carrier ,on which said pawl is pivotally I mounted so as to enable saidpawl to be brought into and out of engagement with said rack, a stop on ,said carrier to limit the movement of said pawl in a letter-feeding direction,-a link, connections between said link and said pawl, whereby the pawl may be brought into engagement with said rac and then actuated to swing said pawl to the right, a series of key-levers, and connections between said key-levers and said link whereby individual depression'of said key-levers to a substantially uniform extent will actuate said link to different extents in accordance with the key-levers depressed.

7. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a carriage, of back-spacing means therefor including a rock-shaft, and means to actuate said shaft to different extents to determine the extent of the back-spacing action, comprising arms fixed on said'shaft, a rod supported by said arms, a series of backspacing levers on a common pivot, and a series of links connecting said rod to said levers at different distances from said pivot to determine back-spacing in accordance with the lever depressed, said links having slotted ortions embracing said rod to enable in ependent actuation of said shaft by said levers.

8. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a traveling carriage and an escapement mechanism including a rack connected with said carriage, of a back-space pawl, means, to swing said pawl into engagement with said rack, and to effect different backspacing movements thereof, including a s aft connected to said back-space pawl, 11 series of back-space levers ona common pivot, and links, one for each lever, each link being pivoted at one end to the respective levers at equal distances from the common pivot. and connected at the other end to ins supported by said shaft at dif ferent istances from its axis, the connections between said links and said pins being such that actuation of a backspacing lever will cause actiiation of said shaft, and actuation of any one of said back-spacing levers may be effected independently of any other.

9. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a carriage having letter-space movements, of a series of key-levers having a common pivot, the number of said keylevers corresponding to the different backspacing movements to be effected, a device including a back-space pawl adapted to back-space said carriage different amounts, and movement-transmitting actuating connections between said key-levers and said back-space device for moving the back-space pawl a different number of steps for a substantially uniform movement of each different key-lever, whereby'actuation of any of said key-levers will impart a correspondingly different movement to said back-space awl.

10. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a traveling carriage and es capement mechanism, including a rack connected with said carriage, of a backspace pawl, means to swing said pawl into engagement with said rack and to effect different back-spacing movements thereof, including a shaft connected to said back-space pawl, a. series of back-space levers on a common pivot, links pivotally connected with. said shaft at equal distances from its axis, and with certain of said levers at different distances from the common pivot, and other links pivotally connected to certain of said levers at equal distances from the common with said rack, key-levers corresponding to pivot, and to said shaft at unequal distances from the axis thereof, whereby said pawl will be swung to an extent in accordance with any back-space lever depressed.

' 11. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a traveling carriage and an escapement mechanism, including a rack connected with said carriage, of a back-spacing pawl movable into and out of engagement the different numbers of steps the carriage is to be back-spaced, and key-lever-actuated means for moving said pawljnto engage ment with said rack, and actuating said' pawl to different extents in accordancewith the key-levers depressed, said key-lever-actuated means including lost-motion devices, whereby actuation of any of said key-levers may be effected independently of the others.

12. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a traveling carriage'and an escapement mechanism for effecting letterspace movement thereof, of a plurality of backspacing keys, a back-space device operable by said keys to back-space said carriage different amounts, and mechanism actuated by said keys'for back-spacing said carriage different numbers of steps in accordance with the back-spacing keys depressed, said mechanism including lever and link connections between said keys and said back-space device for moving said back-space device different amounts thereby to impart different extents of movement to the carriage for substantially uniform movements of the different back-spacing key 12. In a typewriting machine, the OOI 'Dblnation with a carriage, of back-spacing means including a rock-shaft, and means to actuate said shaft to different extents to determine the extent of the back-spacin action, comprising an arm fixed on said s aft, :1 series of pivoted'back-spacing levers, and a series of links connecting said arm to said levers at the same distancesfrom the axis of the rock-shaft and at different distances from the pivots of the back-spacing levers thereby to vary the'extent of the back-spacing in accordance with the lever depressed, 1 5 said links having a lost-motion connection to enable independent actuation of said shaft by said levers.

14. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a carriage, of back-spacing 120 means including a rock shaft, and means to actuate said shaft to different extents to determine the extent of the back-spacing action, com rising an arm fixed on said shaft, a series of pivoted back-spacing le- 125 vers, and a series of links connecting said arm to said levers at the same distances from the axis of the rock-shaft and at different distances from the pivots of the back of the back-spacing in accordance with the lever depressed.

15. 'In a typewriting machine, the combination with a traveling carriage, of backspacing means therefor including a rocking member, back-spacing keys corresponding to the number of steps the carriage is to be back-spaced, and ke -actuated means including levers of di erent lengths for correspondingly rocking said rocking member to different extents for the different backspacing keys depressed, thereby to determine the number of steps of the back-spacing of the carriage, said key-actuated means including lost-motion devices, whereby actuation of an of said back-spacing keys may be efi'ecte independently of the others.

16. In a typewriting machine, the combination with a traveling carriage, of backspacing means therefor including a rocking member, back-spacing keys corresponding to the number of steps the carriage is to be back-spaced, and key-actuated means including levers of different lengths for correspondingly rocking said rocking member to different extents for the different backspacing keys depressed, thereby to determine the number of steps of the back-spacing of the carriage.

HARRY BATESL Witnesses:

JENNIE P. THORNE, CATHERINE A. NEWELL. 

